“Some mention should be made at his point of the fact that advanced students must often leave their home dojo to complete their development.

A natural part of the close relationship between teacher and student is that some students will grow and eventually become relatively close to the teacher in ability.

There will probably always be a difference in the depth of their understanding since the most advanced ten percent of knowledge in martial arts is far more difficult to achieve than the first ninety percent, but just as children nearing adulthood must challenge their parents and seek their own role in the world, so must students of the martial arts eventually become complete individuals by seeking independence.

While this separation might seem to be a severing of the ties of loyalty, and in some cases may end up being so, it is a necessary step in the maturation of students.

By testing their abilities in a larger arena, students will come to have a better appreciation of what their teachers have gone through before them, and while their abilities sharpen through contact with other martial artists, they will come to have a new respect for their teachers for having endured some of the difficulties they now face.

As long as the students remember that nothing in their martial arts career would have been possible without the guidance of their teachers, they will understand their proper place in the continuing succession of martial artists.”

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